registering there on our size graph. firefighters tackled an apartment fire in san francisco's lower hate neighborhood. this happened at 1 # 1:35 last night on waller street near buchanan. viewers tweeted the photos of the fire. nobody was injured, but 6 people were forced out of their homes. police have are found what they believe was the get away car in the deadly shooting and crash in las vegas. the shooting on thursday killed an aspiring rapper from oakland, and this is a are -- this is a photograph of the black range rover. it was found at an apartment complexion east of the vegas strip, and a couple blocks from the shooting scene. they are looking for the owner of the suv, 26-year-old ammar harris. he was arrested last year on charges of pandering. and the oakland man who died

kenneth wayne cherry junior was in his maserati which police say was peppered in gunfire. it crashed into a taxi, which exploded into flames. killing a driver and passenger. all three deaths are considered homicide. kenneth cherry senior disputed rumors that his son was a troublemaker. >> my son was a victim just like the two people in the taxi. okay. and i want the media to leave us alone. and let us mourn our 27-year- old son that had three kids. >> police say that shooting stemmed from an argument in the valet area of the aria resort casino, a block away from the crash scene. mc hammer is firing back at police after he was arrested at a bay area shopping mall. that happened thursday night at the rapper was approached by a police officer. he tweeted that the officer asked him if he was on probation or parole and the next thing he knew, hammer says the officer drew his gun and

called for back up. he was arrested for obstructing and resisting an officer. a san francisco 49er faces a drunk driving charge. according to the santa rosa press democrat, they arrested al nether on wednesday. he's the 3rd 49er to be arrested on a dui charge since 2012. the team says they take the issue seriously and reserve comment because it is an ongoing legal matter. democrats with large majorities in the california legislature are charting an ambitious agenda for the year ahead. lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills before last week's deadlines and include proposals to change gun and ammunition laws and even environmental regulations. lawmakers have put forward a total of more than 2000 bills. but at the same time, california democrats are no longer the super majority in the state senate that they were just a couple of days ago.

>> things really changed quickly and that is because of a surprise resignation this past week. as cbs reporter roberta gonzales rob -- rob mcallister,. >> reporter: nobody expected marco rubio to announce his resignation, and is leaving immediately to work for oil giant chevron. a moving taking parties off guard. >> the democrats have enjoyed a one seat 2/3 majority. >> it caught me by surprise. >> it was a big shocking decision. >> reporter: with rubio gone, the democrats control 26 of the possible sheet,ings just one shy of a super majority. >> you get to something like the budget where they may want to raise taxes or fees without the concern of those that work for the business community, they may not have 2/3 in order to do that. >> reporter: with each seat influencing whether a bill may be passed the campaigning is

already under way. >> one vote makes a difference and that's exactly what's happened, in the senate and i'm sure people are talking on both sides of the aisle as i speak about who the right candidate is for the senate district. >> the democrats may not have to wait long to regain the super majority. >> for the next couple weeks the senate won't have the majority and the assembly won't a few weeks after that. fortunately there's enough internal fighting among the republicans that the democrats can count on that practically to get the 2/3 vote they need on the budget and other important matters. >> reporter: as the senate seats are being filled it sets off a dominant effect where the democrats will losed super majority in the assembly until special elections can be held. rob mccallister kpix 5. today on face the nation, how they're trying to prevent the latest budget crisis. bob schieffer is there today, but we have governors from

colorado, maryland, virginia and arizona on sequestration will affect their states. that's on face the nation starting at 8:30:00 a.m. on kpix 5. daytona's international speedway has been repaired in time for the morning's nascar's race. that is after a major crash that left more than 30 people injured yesterday. just as the race cars were approaching the checkered flag, one went airborne. debris flew into the stands. the race is going on as planned this morning. it starts at 10:30 our time. if fans aren't comfortable with the up close seating, officials will work to move them. we are just days away from the end of pope benedict's reign. >> that's right and he gave his final sunday blessing above st. peter square in the vatican city. he's the first pope to retire in 600 years and tens of thousands of people showed up

for today's blessing. he will step down on thursday and told the faithful he's not going to abandon the church. he's expected to spend his retirement in a monastery on the vatican city grounds. keeping the groom alive for high speed rail, another proposal to share the tracks on the peninsula. and the clock is ticking on the sequester deadline. both parties are still blaming each other. where the cuts are going to hurt us all the most. >> we decided to get a little creative. >> the bay bridge shelters sea birds but their nesting days are numbered how caltrans hopes to lure them to the span. and a little bit of a chilly start. a warm finish, though. warm for february anyway. the entire forecast coming up as we look toward the old suspension span of the bay bridge. stay tuned.

left off. hard to spot any clouds out there, toward the golden gate bridge, nothing but blue and the oakland airport cam and look back toward the city, nothing but blue.

what caused the crane to . a new crane is now going to pick up where the old one left off. you remember that crane that toppled over last week. it was working on the new bay bridge. well, what caused the crane to collapse on thursday is still being investigated. it was removing a 129-ton piece of metal when it toppled over and that metal piece was part of the bridge's temporary support structure called false work. nobody was injured and the bridge was not damaged. that incident will not delay the labor day weekend opening of the new eastern span. >> that's right. when crews started building the new span. no one imagined that one of the trickiest parts was getting stubborn birds to move. >> they have nested out of site on the beams for years. caltranscaltrans a has tried everything to move them. christin ayers tells us they're trying to move them with the sounds of love. >> reporter: in the steel

raptor, a flock of fowl you may never have noticed until now. this is a colony of komoronss hidden along the mile stretch of the bridge. >> they like it here. they've been here at least twenty years. >> reporter: when the bridge is dismantled, the birds will lose the only home many of them have ever known. caltrans saw this coming. it's why they spent about half a million dollars building these small platforms into the new bridge, so called condos where the birds can make a new home. but apparently. >> we haven't observed any movement. they have been available, the platforms have been available since 2009. >> reporter: birds of a feather are picky about where they flock together. >> it is frustrating. >> reporter: last year caltrans started wooing the birds, first with fake nestings then with

these decoys. >> we did not have nesting occur. >> reporter: still the birds wouldn't budge. >> because it hasn't been utilized we decided to get creative. >> reporter: lauren bingham a caltrans biogens is charged with getting into the cranes of the birds. her idea, having caltrans install speakers beneath the bridge that blast the call of the comoron. we are at the underbelly of the sky way and workers are installing 6 speakers underneath here that will project the sound of comorons mating. talk about love birds, that is the sound of copulation. workers have wiring the bridge just in time for the mating season, which runs from march to august. it's a plan that could sink or sore. >> we have put in the time and the research to design

something that should potentially work. but it may not, because they're birds and we can't predict exactly what they'll do. >> reporter: caltrans says time is on their side. they won't remove this part of the bridge until 2015. christin ayers kpix 5. and kpix 5 is the official tv station for the bay bridge opening ceremony. you can see the count down block there on your screen. 190 days until the eastern span opens on september 3rd. and that bay bridge light project on the other side has been attracting a lot of attention. that's going to be opening officially soon as well. but today, we are going to be crossing the bridge one way or another with a lot f of people and what kind of weather is it going to be. it looks like it's going to be spectacular today. a great sunday in the bay area, especially for february. we can get cool rainy weather this time of year. no rain in sight for the bay area.

we have no control over what mother nature has planned, might as well enjoy it. temperatures are on the cool side. 37 degrees at concord. 50 at oakland. 50 in san francisco and 39 degrees in santa rosa. and here's how it looks. west satellite as we gaze at the eastern pacific. a batch of high clouds in british columbia. it won't affect us. it continues to get rainy regime in the northwest. high pressure is building in and it will build in strongly today and tomorrow. a little bit warmer as a result f chilly and windy yesterday. but for today, looking for plenty of sunshine around the bay area. partly cloudy skies for sfo, a few clouds in the morning and a high of 58 degrees. elsewhere around the country, la is sunny. denver has some but 37 degrees for a high. chicago is partly cloudy and so is new york. and here's how it looks for the bay area. chilly tonight.

38 in livermore. 40 in san jose. daytime highs look nice. in the city, 59 degrees. 61 in san jose. 62 at fairfield. extended forecast, nothing but sun as far as the eye can see. a little bit cooler in the early part of the week next week. as we head toward next weekend, the numbers will be nudging. low 70s for the bay area. we'll take a step or two in that direction today and tomorrow. if you're all for good weather, get on board and on the subject of getting on board, here's ann. >> there is a plan afoot that could make high speed rail more palatable for some people. neighbors on the peninsula may be more willing to welcome it if extra tracks are not needed. the high speed rail project would allow passengers to go from san francisco to los angeles in less than 2 hours and 40 minutes when it's all completed. jerry hill just unveil ared a bill guaranteeing the trains would run on the two existing tracks, sharing them with caltrain on the peninsula.

it will provide funding to electrify the caltrains track. for more on this hot button issue along the peninsula we are going to be here with jerry hill. thank you for joining us this morning. this has been a point of contention for thousands of people and the communities on the peninsula. they voted for high speed rail, the idea, but the reality of 80 to 150 miles per hour trains going through their communities got them on edge and fighting it. >> plus the reality of the speed as well as they were going to have 4 tracks, and two tracks currently. 4 tracks from san jose to san francisco and the proposal to go 60 feet in the air with the viaducts they were planning to raise the train which would star many of the communities on the peninsula and create a real difference on the east side and the west side. >> where are we now on the of the tracks. when i go down the peninsula, i have people that say look, this is going to be a safety issue. we want the track to either go down into a tunnel or they

didn't want the viaduct. they want it undergrounded. is that still possible or is that cost out the window. >> it's been pretty clear we're not going into the viaducts to go higher that. won't work at all. you have to separate the cars from the train are. when you're going 125 miles per hour with high speed rail, you can't have people, trains, bicycles in the way. you have to completely separate the train from everyone else which means you have to go up or go at grade and put all the cars and everything and tunnel them underneath and come up on the roles which is possible or you can raise them a little bit where you go up 20 feet and have a combination of trains going below, like at belmont and ralston. what i'm hoping we'll do is trench in many areas where you could trench below, have an open, which is a lot less expensive. trench the area, run the train underground and then fill the top in. and you can't cover it completely but you can cover a large portion of it. and develop that land on top.

it it could be used for some public purposes or developed r -- for economic benefit. >> what is the objection to the four versus the two and how does that affect the overall speedy of high speed rail because in order for it to move you have to move a lot of trains fast and limiting it to two trains, rails, one going one way and one the other, won't that defeat the high speed rail. >> it won't depete it at all -- defeat it all all. there will be some passing track that will be developed along the peninsula from san jose to san francisco, when the commuter train is going slower, it can go around the and high speed rail can go faster. the idea between two and four tracks, if you have four tracks, it's going to require a taking of property. it has to widen the right-of- way in a lot of areas. not enough space there to do that so it means a lot of homes would be lost. so the legislation that i

authored will say that it has to be a two track system. you can't change that. >> why are you having to pass a law to do this. i thought this was ironed out when we passed the high speed rail plan. >> it was ironed out but the high speed rail authority doesn't have the greatest amount of credibility. we haven't been able to trust them. the new board the governor put in is is excellent. i have a lot of respect for them. this is a long project. this law will actually codify and make sure that there's clarity and safeguards in place that they can't do the things that the community doesn't want them to do. >> final question, though, it brings the question, are you legislating engineering decisions and is that the smart way to go. >> it's not the smart way to legislate engineering decisions. this was already engineered. it was made. we're taking the existing law that was passioned last year

and making sure that it's clear, that the safeguards are in place to protect the communities on the peninsula from san francisco to san jose, so that they can't years from now, do a bait and switch, which we're always fearful of. it has to be in writing. the deal has to be in writing. >> i love it when state government doesn't trust state government. it says something about the state. >> in the next half hour, we'd like to check with you on your plans. i understand you have proposals about the public utility commissions and questions about how they managed funds and about how they're dealing with gas and electric fees. >> absolutely. can you stick around for the next half hour. thank you. the pentagon state governments and other agencies scrambling ahead of the sequester deadline in washington dc, a how badly will the massive budget cuts hurt, and a conversation with eric squael next.

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automatic spending cuts of 85-billion dollars would go into . we're getting detailed warnings about what had happen if congress can't reach a deal on automatic spending cuts, $85 billion that would go into effect on the first of march. the massive cuts in the military will affect the country's ability to defend itself and the centers on disease control, and the faa

says 47,000 workers could be laid off meaning longer lines and fewer flights. trying to put an end to a budget battle. >> and i checked in with one of the freshman members of the california delegation. congressman eric swalwel. what are we calling this one. >> i'm calling this one murder suicide of critical government services. and it's going to crash our economy and this is being done by some in congress who see no role for the federal government and they think that the best way to have to have cults is to murder our -- cuts is to murder our economy and get rid of critical services to make folks wait longer at tia, to make our veterans wait longer than they're already waiting for congress. the fiscal cliff came in december, then in january we had the debt ceiling and now we

have this manmade crisis called sequester and the voters want us to work together to solve these problems and not keep practicing incremental government. >> it is getting annoying to the common voterrer. we have a march 1st deadline for this. you guys are on vacation right now. >> congress is home on a week long recess. the majority party sets that. i would rather be back in washington working, but we seem to only be working three days a week. and that's not enough to solve the problems at hand, and we're facing a government shut down, and the american people are not going to e react positively to that. we're seeing fragile economic growth in our economy. >> from an insider, what is the mood there. is there going to be a breakthrough at the last minute? we would expect there to be one. >> well, this isn't college. we can't wait until the last minute and turn the essay in. congress was elected by the american people to think big and solve big problems, and right now it's time for our

leaders, time for both parties to come together, talk to each other, and get rid of the deadline. solve this problem. make cuts, measured investments for the future but no more deadlines. solve it once and for all and move onto doing the business to getting our economy back on track. >> and later in the show we'll be talking with our political insiders, including willie brown on how they managed to paint themselves into the corner and how tough it is to get out of it this time. >> they have a less than a week to do so. a new recommendation to audit california's public utilities commission. state senator jerry hill is going to talk with us about his plan to reform the agency. and celebrating the lunar new year with the biggest parade outside of asia, the noisy and colorful tribute to the year of the snake in san francisco when we get back.

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this is kpix 5 news. a big gun buy back program on the peninsula where people waited for hours to turn in their guns for cash. and sunday is going to live up to its name, a lot of sun around the bay area, warmer temperatures and forecast coming up. well, first of all, i don't imagine any of them really understand and appreciate what the problem really is because

nobody has an exit strategy. the painful budget cuts, have republicans and democrats painted themselves into a corner. welcome back to kpix 5 this morning, the time is 8:00. it's february 24th. good morning i'm phil matier. >> and i'm anne makovec. we have a lot to talk about in the next half hour. going to be talking about that sequester deadline coming up and political analysts are have insight. >> and how do they manage to continue to do that, speaking of crisis, a smaller one and a little closer to home, we have jerry hill to talk about the public utilities commission. that's the group that oversees the utilities in the state and how public is the process when it comes to dealing with some of the larger utilities like pg&e. >> and he says it's currently being run like a dictatorship.

first we had a moderate earthquake, a magnitude of 3.0. just before 2 this morning. centered 2 miles northeast of fremont, and viewers in that area tell us buildings where are swaying. no reports of damage or injury. firefighters tackled a 2 alarm apartment fire in san francisco's lower hate neighborhood. it happened at about 11:35 last night on waller street near buchanan. kpix 5 viewers tweeted these photos of the fire. crews had it under control within the hour. nobody was injured but six people were forced out of their homes. officers are now reviewing security video hoping to find a group of teens who got off of an ac transit bus and opened fire on it. that happened after midnight saturday on international boulevard. none of the passengers on the bus were hit by bullets, but four passengers say they were injured when the bus stead sped away because they fell out of their seat. there appears to be no reason

for the shooting. >> i'm not sure anybody was the target other than the bus itself. they got off the bus and one of them decided to to shoot the bus. >> the riders were checked out at the hospital, they will be okay. hundreds of guns are staying off the streets thanks to a south bay gun buy back program. this weekend's event was so successful, they ran out of cash and had to give out vouchers. patrick sedillo shows us the event caused a huge traffic jam. >> the line stretched for city blocks in both directions. >> a junky old gun that wasn't worth anything. >> reporter: the tri-city effort of east palo alto, and palo alto police departments hosted the gun buy back getting assault weapons, and pistol and a hand grenade. they collected 355 firearms including 111 handguns, 227 rifles or shotguns and 11 assault depp p weapons.

-- assault weapons. >> three sets of people coming up trying to get them through as quickly as possible. >> reporter: a dozen people decided to ditch their cars and come up with their guns. >> you got sick of waiting in your car. >> that's exactly right. >> reporter: how long were you waiting. >> i drove right off the freeway and parked my car and walked over. >> i was inspired by happened in newtown connecticut, and the tragedies that took place in sandy hook. >> reporter: people coming in received a hundred bucks for a handgun, 200 for a shotgun or 300 for an assault weapon and the turn out was more than they could handle. >> we had $52,000 and unfortunately it ran out almost three hours into the operation. the vouchers are going to the people estopped in the parking lot. >> we have been here for three hours and we got a voucher, and have to come back next week. >> reporter: everyone who didn't get a voucher will have to wait for another buy back

next week. patrick sedillo kpix 5. a key vote wednesday on the new bay bridge bash. that's when the bay area toll authority will consider a $5.6 million budget for the event. the plan is to allow more than 100,000 people to walk across the new east bay span when it opens. that's at the end of a five day closure to hook everything up. but on other news it looks like it may be curtains for the water slide in pleasanton, an east bay regional park committee has recommended shutting down the park and dismanned ling -- dismantling the slide. and the bidder wants the parks money to fund 80% of the new and larger park. the district just doesn't have that kind of money. and the bay area national guard unit is being credited with saving lives in afghanistan. we're here at mofette field

last month when the 129th rescue wing was deployed. their mission was wartime search and rescue. the 129th have saved 10 people during 13 rescue missions in afghanistan. those saved included coalition troops, afghan soldiers and civilians. a suicide bomber was stopped and killed in aversion today. >> it happened in an area -- investigation today. >> it happened in kabul. afghan intelligent officers were able to shoot the bomber to death before he could detonate explosives. and today john kerry set off for his first overseas trip as secretary of state. he'll make 9 stops across europe and the middle east and the civil war in syria will be a major topic of discussion. he plans to attend the meeting of syrian opposition leaders in rome. >> just are hours ago pope benedict gary his final blessing above st. pete -- gave

his final blessing above st. peter's square. the 85-year-old will step down on thursday. he told the faithful he did l not abandon the church. he's expected to spend the retirement in a monastery on the vatican city grounds. daytona international speedway has been repaired nor nascar's biggest race. >> even after a major crash left more than 30 people injured yesterday as the race cars were approach aring check this out, one car ended up going airborne and debris from the crash flew into the stands. no driver are injured. >> you have to realize a motor was sitting in the stands and a wheel and i don't mean to a tire, a wheel with a brake drum and everything on it flying over your head. >> the daytona 500 starts at 10:30 our time. race organizers say if any fans are uncomfortable with the up

close seating for today's race, they will work to mover them. new questions about california's public utilities commission and its audits of utilities. jerry hill is joining us live with his plan to reform the agency. plus the promise of severe budget cults if congress can't -- cuts if congress can't make a deal. what's next from dc lawmakers as they return from their recess tomorrow. celebrated the year of the snake. that will wake you up, dragons and fire crackers ringing in the new year. how san francisco celebrates the year of the snake. and we have a nip in the air to start off sunday morning but we'll take a bite out of cold temperatures. things warming up around the bay area. forecast coming up after a break.

thank you for stopping by kpix 5 this morning as we give you the view from the city. you can see a lot of sun to start sunday and that also looks in evidence as we look toward mount diablo.

bay area. about one million people watched san francisco it's the biggest lunar year celebration until the entire bay area. and about a million people watch san francisco welcome the year of the snake.

part of the grand few electrical lee this. -- finale. the parade is a san francisco tradition, and it's the biggest chinese new year parade outside of asia. today there is a festival going on in china town for anybody heading out there. sound like a lot of sunshine. beautiful day today that. plenty of sun. the numbers will be in the low 60s and by california standards, that my friend is chilly. right now it's 50 degrees. around the coast, at least in the next hour or so, as you head out the door, take a bike ride or do a bit of a run, looks pretty good. temperatures will be in the upper 40s by 9:30 this morning. few now 41 to start off sunday morning. concord, blue and 52 at oakland. san francisco at the airport, 51. santa rosa 40 degrees.

here's what we expect, severely clear skies. slightly warmer temperatures, and it's going to stay dry right through the first week of march. no big changes as the flow over the pacific begins to split and high pressure builds in over the pacific, so the fungus drives, and sunny and warmer. and the numbers looks pretty good heading out of the bay area, look for sunshine all the way from eureka to redding to mendocino. and frequency no after a little bit of of morning -- fresno after a little bit of morning fog. 38 degrees for livermore. forecast highs, look at 59 in san francisco, along the shoreline, take the dog for a walk. 60 degrees at pacifica. extended forecast, it's just sunshine all week. we'll go with sunny side up. temperatures stay in the 60s for most of the week.

as we head into next week, we will nudge 70 degrees by friday. a little bit of a slight warming trend from the bay area. i know it seems you could get a robert to a -- robot to do this. we are getting our first look at pg&e's new device nor inspecting natural gas pipelines. it is a high-tech wireless camera, and unlike other robot cameras, this goes inside gas transmission lines to look for erosions and other defects without affecting service. it's part of the utility's effort to improve safety after the deadly 2010 san bruno pipeline explosion. meanwhile an oversight of utilities finances is in the news this week. the state legislative analyst is raising questions about the public utility commissions oversight of special accounts for utility projects.

and it's possible that rate payers have been overcharged. joining us is state senator jerry hill making a push for reform. what do you see right now as the problem with the state's public utilities commission. >> well, the main function of the california public utilities commission, in fact their mission statement says their purpose is to protect public safety through controlling and regulating our public utilities and manage and make sure the rate payers are protected financially. they failed on both counts. you know what happened a couple years ago in san bruno and also the legislative analyst, they don't know how many special accounts there are. i think there are about 180 with billions. they don't know whether it's billions or trillions of dollars that has come out. and they haven't done any audits since 1977 that are supposed to balance these accounts. a few years ago we found that they were given $5 million to do repairs right down in south san francisco from san bruno. $5million one career, and #

years -- year, and 2 years into it, nobody found out what they did with the first 5 a million. >> the public utilities commission is one of the most watched of the entire state commissions. there's always somebody that seems to be making a statement or holding a press conference about it. how did this evolve into such a mess. >> we have pretty much a dictatorial situation at the california public utilities commission. for 90 years of their 100 year history, all five commissioners were able to make decisions in terms of directing staff, in terms of kind of running the operations there: they would hire someone to do it as a director. in 2000 they gave the president of the commission dictatorial powers. they can establish who will be the assigned commissioner on positions. as you know michael peevy made himself the commissioner. >> wasn't the idea to streamline things and make it efficient, wasn't that the argument it was getting bogged

down with different discussions. >> that may have been the case then and now one person is doing all of the, making the decisions and as you saw last year in october when they suspended the hearings looking at pg ask e right at the critical point the president ordered his staff to stop those hearings and go into forced mediation when no one wanted it. >> how much of this lands on the governor's doorstep. >> well, the governor appoints the five people. and the governor appointed the president of the public utilizes commission today. i believe he should change that position and appoint someone else as the president because the problems that we've seen have been under the watch of this current president. >> i hear from the flip side that it is as close to trying to run as efficient operation as possible, that peevy for all the faults is actually trying get things done where otherwise it would be hearings and hearings and hearings. >> he's had ten years to do

that or twelve years to do that and it hasn't been done. we've just seen problems those audits of the finances, $30 billion per year of balancing accounts. maybe charged for one thing and at the end of the year they balance that to see who owes who, weather the rate payers will get more money or pg&e. and that hasn't been done. the auditing part has been a failure and certainly the safety aspect of it that has come out through the national transportation safety board, claiming that they have, you know, plans in place that have not worked and they have not been regulating appropriately. well, looks like sacramento is going to get even more interesting if you have your way. that's going to be a heck of a debate. utilizes against the public utilities, with the governor right in the middle. well, meanwhile, we have other things going on as well. right ann. >> yes, gridlock on capitol hill that we've been talking about. coming up next, our political insiders on the dc lawmakers

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reac the nation is facing yet another fiscal crisis. friday is the deadline to reach a deal to avoid massive defense and budget cuts, that's when automatic spending cuts of $85 billion would go into effect. republicans and democrat disagree on how much to cut the deficit and debt and whether or not to raise taxes. republicans say taxes is off the table and president obama says new revenues are a must. and that's why we turn to our political insiders, former mayor willie brown and foeley, and our first question is congress isn't in education. what's going to happen -- in

session. what's going to happen when they come back. >> i don't think any of them understand and appreciate what the problem really is because nobody has an exit strategy. nobody has a way out the back door. every're time there's always been -- every other time there's been some way out the back door. you could delay it six weeks, you could pump it here, pump it there. nobody has that kind of strategy. you can't delay. >> reporter: what is it about cuts that the congress just doesn't want to touch. >> nobody wants to touch their pet project, the same as always. the conservatives don't want to touch the military, the liberals don't want to touch the social programs and nobody wants to go there. >> reporter: and there's a stronger constituency, the farmers in this country who get the subsidies for what they don't grow, let me tell you, they have always been up there with the gun owners, they are really strong. >> reporter: but what congress basically did was kick the can

down the road. they said we come up with a tax deal that doesn't raise taxes for the middle class and we'll take care of the cuts later, and now they've had more than a year to try to figure out what to do with this, why did they just let it go. >> he said earlier because the anticipation was we will be all democrats we'll be in charge. we'll be all republicans and we'll be in charge. we can protect ourselves, now suddenly it's a situation, nobody can protect themselves, nobody wishes to be l. that's why they're not there. >> reporter: that's an optimistic note. >> it's very annoying, the whole thing. the general voters is the one that gets dragged through the mud. >> time after time, the cliff to the sequestration. we're running out of l titles for the ongoing crisis. >> i'm rolling my eyes and so are a lot of people this morning. coming up next, we'll take a look at this morning's top

stories. and that includes new developments into the investigation into the deadly shooting on the vegas strip. we'll be right back. you have a flat tire dead battery need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geico's emergency roadside assistance is there 24/7. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh... yeah, can you find a take where it's a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah? yeah i got it right here. someone help me!!! i have a flat tire!!! well it's good... good for me. what do you think? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

they say was welcome back, let's take a look at this morning's top stories. authorities in vegas have found the suv they say was involved in a deadly shooting and a crash that killed a man from oakland, the 26-year-old suspect is still on the loose. democrats are without the super majority in the state senate after a surprise resignation, and soon to be vacated by marco rubio from the central valley. and pope benedict gives his final blessing this morning. he's the first pope to retire in 600 years. the 85-year-old will step down on thursday. and remember face the nation starts here in just a

few minutes. and for us the news continues on our cw network, disoriented wandering sea lions showing up along freeways and inside businesses, the new clues a as to what is making sea lions sick, that is on channel 44 cable 12 starting at 8:30 this morning. and nothing but sunshine this weekend so far and sounds like it's going to be more of the same today with the added benefit of warmer temps. yes, temperatures are going to come up a couple degrees. getting off to a chilly start for the bay area, with numbers today mostly in the low 60s and it lax like it's going to be high and dry all the way through the end of the week. >> numbers by next weekend, into the low 70s. is that possible? it is. that will happen. have a great sunday. it looks good. i bet everybody who's participating in the polar plunge would have preferred it to be next week. >> as opposed to that. >> nonetheless, those brave souls dived into san francisco bay this weekend. >> it was all for a good cause.

there they go, call them brave or call them crazy. the polar plunge is a benefit for the special olympics of northern california, a great organization. police chief greg sur and juliette goodrich were among the volunteers taking the plunge without the protection of wet suits. >> and participants raised each about $125 for the special olympics. the teams from law enforcement agencies, corporations and schools all took part and i bet to say it's a little warmer than when we see them from the midwest and other parts. >> that's true. i used to work in wisconsin and they wanted me to dive into an actual frozen lake i said no. a college basketball fan is 2100 dollars rich arer after making a shot from half court. >> it happened during the second half of the game against san diego. the shooter, the younger brother of a former player, there he goes, a half court

shot. a cheer leader showing a harlem globetrotter how it's done. >> that's incredible. i want to thank everyone for joining us. remember face the nation is next on cbs here.

>> garrett: today on "face the nation." the countdown to sequester continues. with just days before draconian spending cuts are scheduled to kick in, washington is preparing for furloughs cutbacks, and delays. can anything stop them? >> these cuts are not smart. they are not fair. they will hurt our economy. they will add hundreds of thousands of americans to the unemployment role. >> garrett: we will get the latest from education secretary arne duncan and hear from two key members of the senate budget committee, could iand tim kaine. and then we'll talk to some of the governors whose states will be hardest hit and ask what they

think of new gun control and immigration law. republicans bob mcdonnell of virginia, and jan brewer of arizona. plus democrats martin o'malley of maryland, and colorado's john hickenlooper. and we'll also continue our conversation on gun control after want newtown shooting. what is the impact of violent video games on kids? and what kind of mental health laws do we need to help keep things like this from ever happening again? it's all ahead on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. substituting for bob schieffer cbs news chief white house correspondent, major garrett. >> garrett: good morning again. bob is off today. friday $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. nearly half the cuts will be to defense, the